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A little more than two years after General Motors and Chrysler were forced through bankruptcy proceedings in return for government cash, the time has come to acknowledge the unlikely success of the auto bailout.

Factories produced more goods in May, bouncing back from supply disruptions caused by the Japan crises and tornadoes in the southern U.S. In April, those factors led to the first drop in output in 10 months.

But though Hoyer called for compromise, he minced no words calling out Republicans for their refusal to support using increases in tax revenue, achieved by tax reform, to help close the deficit gap. He suggested that Republicans still believe that tax cuts are ‘a fiscal and economic cure-all,’ despite the economic growth experienced under higher tax rates during the Clinton administration and the assertions of economists that the Bush administration’s tax policy is a major driver of the national debt.

Families and small businesses have been hurting, and for far too long. Since 1979, the number of manufacturing employees has shrunk from 20 million to 12 million. And in the last decade, that process has accelerated. As a result, America's middle-class families have lost $2,000 in yearly income. And in St. Louis, from 2004 to 2010, the region lost 28 percent of its manufacturing jobs.

THE U.S.-CHINA Strategic and Economic Dialogue wrapped up in Washington Tuesday after much discussion of the now-familiar economic imbalances within, and between, the two countries. Yet even as leaders again made promises about currencies and trade, evidence was mounting that some old assumptions regarding their relationship may no longer apply. For U.S. companies and workers, long buffeted by “outsourcing,” real and perceived, the most encouraging new reality may be the beginning of the end of China’s competitive advantages over the United States — even in manufacturing.

After a 40 percent drop in sales from October 2008 to February 2009, Materials Processing Inc. laid off workers, changed the way it sets prices and took fewer risks in the volatile commodities markets.

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday that Democrats will roll out a host of legislative proposals Wednesday as part of their “Make It in America” agenda. Some of the items have already been introduced by Democratic Members, Hoyer said, and all will be focused on boosting exports and lowering the unemployment rate.

If you're feeling overwhelmed this Tax Day, you're not alone. The complexity of our tax code isn't just a nuisance for families and businesses -- it's a drag on our entire economy. Each year, Americans spend billions of dollars and more than 225 million collective hours doing their taxes. And each year, there's talk of making our tax code far simpler, talk that rarely goes anywhere. This year, however, there is a real chance that we can turn our overwhelming tax code into a simpler one that unleashes productivity, saves families time and money, helps us create jobs, and reduces the deficit.

But there's a paradox to Boehner's success. The speaker hasn't achieved these goals solely because of the 87 GOP freshmen elected last fall. He's pulled it off because in each case, he got help from the Democrats.

A year ago, the parents of a little girl in Ohio were worrying that they would soon exceed the lifetime limit on their health insurance. Taylor Wilhite had been diagnosed with leukemia at age 8, and her treatment — rounds of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, long hospital stays — had been stupendously expensive.

A year ago this week, President Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act, or the ACA. The ACA gave families — not insurance companies — the freedom to control their own health care choices. Just a year after it became law, the ACA is making it easier for small businesses in Prince George's County to cover their employees, the law is taking important steps to bring down health care costs, and it's stopping insurance company abuses that bankrupt sick Marylanders or deny them coverage.

Some veteran Republican House members are pushing back against conservative deficit hawks who are pushing for endlessly deep spending cuts, saying the right wing of the party is creating unnecessary divisions for the GOP majority.

The House gave grudging approval on Tuesday to a plan to finance the federal government for three more weeks, even as dozens of Republicans broke with their leadership and opposed the stopgap legislation.